if you haven't already, check these folks out:
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/la...bus-10030.html
"REI, full time, young family" all key terms for them so their videos (youtube) could be of great help.
And since you are currently in NC, you might want to take a look at the thread I started to document the legal side of things in that state:
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/no...lues-9866.html
We ultimately decided to convert to house car as leaving the title 'bus' meant getting a CDL (even though the bus doesn't meet the definition of a commercial vehicle...whatevs) which included a required test inspection of a 'complete bus'...since we'd already removed the seats (and recycled them!) as well as the tired old floor, we would then need to find someone with a complete bus who was willing to put almost total novices behind the wheel...ain't happenin' in my lifetime!